Industry News

11/21/2014

After five years at the helm of the Arizona district, Superintendent Paul Stanton may be leaving the district at the end of the school year to take the superintendent position in Phoenix's Washington Elementary School District, pending approval by both districts' governing boards.

Jeffrey Jensen, currently the superintendent of Creighton Community Public Schools, has accepted the Nebraska district's superintendent position. The previous superintendent, Candace Conradt, resigned in June after a year of controversy in the district.

Using text, visuals, learning prompts and accessibility, special education professionals and teachers can now deliver personalized instruction and therapy while measuring a student’s progress anywhere through Boardmaker's Boardmaker Student Center app, available free of cost in the Apple iTunes store.

In-school suspension rates at Ed White Middle School in San Antonio dropped 75 percent over two years as a result of an initiative that disciplines students through community accountability created by UT researcher Marilyn Armour. A key factor is holding students accountable for their mistakes by communicating with those involved.

Newark is a hard place to grow up. The district, though, has no uniform response for the death of a student or any other violent event that takes place outside school grounds. As a result of community violence, one of the specific challenges that the schools struggle with is really keeping students engaged and hopeful about the future.

The Woodland Public School District cancel all classes and school activities through the Thanksgiving break due to a high infection frequency of mononucleosis in the community. During that time, all school buildings will be disinfected.

Good architects strive to balance design and function while listening closely to a client’s emotional needs for the space. But rebuilding a school after a shooting presents a unique kaleidoscope of intense feelings. Architects must create an environment that not only promotes learning, but also helps the students — and their towns — heal from tragedy.

Schools in Ferguson, Missouri, released plans to ensure that students are off the streets - possibly including closing schools - ahead of the grand jury verdict in the shooting of teenager Michael Brown. Whenever a decision is handed down, the entire district's 23 schools could close if the decision is released during a school day.

11/20/2014

A judge will hear arguments in a lawsuit filed against the Aberdeen-Matawan School District by a family who claim the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance discriminates against children with atheist beliefs.

Boston charter schools are far more likely than traditional school systems to suspend students, usually for minor infractions such as violating dress codes or being disrespectful, a high-risk disciplinary action that could cause students to disengage from their classes, according to a Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice report.

President Obama launched a new effort to assist school leaders in their transition to digital learning with the Future Ready Digital Pledge as part of the President’s ConnectED initiative. The pledge asks school superintendents to foster a culture of learning through technology, among other points.

Gender and race inequity exist in school discipline policies. Acknowledging that fact is not an avenue to ignoring bad behavior, but the first step toward seeking ways in which all students succeed in school and then in life.

The recently released state School Performance Profiles once again show a correlation between the economic makeup of top-performing districts and those in the bottom of the academic rankings in Allegheny County.

The Pennsylvania district's school board, faced once again with hours of comment from community members who urged them not to turn the district's schools into charters, voted to table the idea to get more information on a proposed contract with Charter Schools USA.